The game started off well for the Cowboys, Romo had 2 strikes to Dez Bryant in the second quarter to make it 17-14 Saints at the half. Dan Bailey got a field goal to tie the game then the Saints marched down the field to go up by a touchdown. Later on the Cowboys got the Ball back at their own 2. And this was the play that cost them the game. Murray fumbled giving the Saints the ball at the 5 and they went up by 2 touchdowns. The Cowboys then got the ball back with 4:45 left on the clock. Romo then led a scoring strike to Harris to pull them with in a touchdown. The Saints were then forced to punt and Romo led the Cowboys down to the red zone again. Then hooking up with Austin to force overtime. Overtime was terrible for the Cowboys though, they got the ball first but couldn't do anything, then the Saints came marching down. They fumbled though, the ball rolled all they way to the Cowboys 2, there was a big scramble but unfortunately the Saints came up with it and kicked an easy game winning field goal.
The defense had really its worst game of the season. Drew Brees had 446 yards through the air and 3 touchdowns, while their run game had 116 yards combined. The defense did not sack Brees once in the entire game and only had 2 hits on Brees. Ware did miss most of the game due to injury but the Cowboys still needed to disrupt Brees in order to stop him. The one time the defense was good was when they forced the Saints to punt to allow the Cowboys offense to force overtime. But they just could not stop the Saints in overtime and lost.
Murray also had his worst game since coming back from his foot injury, to go with the fact that he fumbled, he only had 40 yards on 11 carries and was the only rusher for the Cowboys. Murray fumbling gave the Saints a lot of momentum to go up big in the 4th. Luckily Romo did not have any turnovers even after being force to throw so much. But the Cowboys still need to improve their run game and Murray can not make mistakes in key situations.
The Cowboys actually did not do too bad with the penalties this game, only 5 were called for 32 yards. But the Cowboys still need to improve in this area, they gave the Saints 3 first downs from penalties. These need to stop.
The Cowboys also need to get better on converting on 3rd downs. They were only 2 for 10 which is terrible, the Cowboys need to find the end zone in key situations.
There were a few good parts of this game though. Romo had 416 yards and 3 touchdowns with no turnovers. And led his team to a touchdown with 15 seconds left to force overtime. Dez Bryant also continued to show us why he does not need surgery right now, he had 2 touchdowns to go with 224 yards receiving. And congratulations to Jason Witten, he broke the record for most catches in a single season by a tight end. He is such a great player to have on this team, Romo knows he can trust him and that is always good to have for a quarterback.
Next week is the NFC East championship game, the second in a row, the Cowboys do not want to mess up again and want revenge after losing against the Redskins on Thanksgiving.
Go Cowboys!
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